There are three distinguished in fierceness: Israel among the nations, the dog among animals, and the cock among birds. —Rabbi Simeon, Tractate Bezah 25b, Babylonian Talmud (Quincentenary ed.), Soncino Pr.

Where is it possible to find a group of Jews who are committed to Israel, and whose children are likely to honor that commitment? The answer is, in a synagogue on the Sabbath. —Elliott Abrams, "Can Jews Survive?"

It is a fact that the Jewish religion is above all Jewish nationalism ... One must be a Jew first and a human being second. —Moses Hess, Rome and Jerusalem, as quoted in The Decadence of Judaism in Our Time by Moshe Menuhin.

Why, then, does truth generate hatred ... unless it be that truth is loved in such a way that those who love something else besides her wish that to be the truth which they do love. ... Therefore, they hate the truth for the sake of whatever it is that they love in place of the truth. —Augustine of Hippo, Confessions (Bk. X, Ch. XXIII, 34)

Friday, January 11, 2008

Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas K. Gandhi and the president and co-founder of the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, is being raked over the coals for remarks he made recently on the Newsweek/Washington Post site, "On Faith." Gandhi opens the short reflection with "Jewish identity in the past has been locked into the holocaust experience ..." He might better have referred to the Jewish holocaust religion as he clearly violated its 7th commandment: Thou shall not criticize the leading Jewish organizations and the Israeli government!

This predictably drew the wrath of Chief Rebbe Abe Foxman's ADL. They zeroed in on Gandhi's observation that "We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity." The ADL called it an "outrageous libel of an entire people and of a country that wants nothing more than to live in peace and security." Gandhi was, of course, right to point out the global culture of violence and he might also have pointed to Judaism's very real Culture of Death, which via the West has also poisoned much of the world, esp. the US with its Neo-Cons and legions of Christian Zionists.

According to [Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israel director], the notion that Jewish identity is "locked into" the Holocaust and causes resentment, coupled with the statement that "Israel and the Jews are the biggest players" in a "culture of violence [that] is eventually going to destroy humanity," clearly amount to anti-Semitism.

"Sometimes people become obsessed with their own agenda to the extent that they think it's the solution to every problem," he said. "Even the great Mohandas Gandhi did not have a monopoly on wisdom, and the best proof of that was his suggestion that Jews engage in passive resistance against the Nazis. It's an absurd response in the face of absolute totalitarianism and a movement like Nazism. It's like saying the Indian army should disband and let the Taliban and al-Qaida and the Pakistanis overrun the country."

In fact, Gandhi was right to advocate nonviolent resistance against the Nazis by Jews. The fact is that Jews and others did employ such resistance in the form of an international economic boycott and it was working until Jewish leaders undermined the effort in order to cut a deal with the Nazis in support of the eventual Jewish takeover of Palestine.

Well, hindu nationalist, I hope you will forgive me if I am skeptical of your 900 million figure. As of the last census there were not even that many Hindus alive in India, let alone young ones. And I am even more skeptical of your representation of your views on Israel as theirs. Although I do acknowledge that Hindu neo-fascism seems to be on the rise and that would go hand-in-hand with supporting neo-fascist Jewish Israel and neo-fascist Christian America. On that subject, I recommend "Axis Of The Apocalyptic" by Satya Sagar.

There is nothing "natural" about hatred for Muslims. Anyone who subscribes to the motto "enemy of your enemy is your friend" is a fool and ignorant of history. The enemy of your enemy can easily be your enemy.